keyword - microphone

The work presents several actions Davide has performed with microphones. These actions reflect on the materiality of the sound devices and explore their corporeal aspects, as sounding bodies that he interacts with in unexpected ways. The actions are developed with a direct dramaturgy, each ending with the metaphorical death of the microphone/loudspeaker and consequent absence of sound. Examples of actions include burning a microphone or destroying a loudspeaker with a slingshot. Davide’s actions explore the ephemeral nature of corporeal existence through the presence, absence, and disappearance of sound as a metaphor for life and death.

SINGLE STROKES

photo by Katerina Tamvaki
A MICROPHONE IS TREATED WITH HOT WAX DROPS AND EVENTUALLY SET ON FIRE… TSCHHH TSCHHH TUUUM TUM TUM GRRRRRRRRRRRRR SHAAAAA!!!

the mic is exposed
no armor to wear
facing the world
a punch in the chest
each touch is a mark
each flame is a trace
its body a map that accumulates
the sound it makes
a desperate cry
feeling all those blows
until when it dies

A microphone is placed on the asphalt at one side of a road.
It is slowly pulled towards the other side of the road where the audience stand.
The microphone keeps on going until it gets killed by the passing cars.

It’s like your loved one being struck on his/her way back home.
It’s like you passing away, all of the sudden…

MICROPHONE AND NAIL GUN

MICROPHONE DOWN THE CHIMNEY

BEYOND THE YELLOW LINE

A microphone is physically exposed to the consequences of breaking the distance limit that conventionally separates it from the subject of the recording. The video is a metaphor about the search for interaction and confrontation.

MAREBELLO BEACH SOUND WALK

LEICESTER

1) A performer swings a microphone in the air.
2) At each turn the microphone cable is stretched a few inches more.
3) The performer continues in this way until the cable length becomes unmanageable and the microphone goes crashing to the ground.

The performance is a metaphor about becoming aware of each one’s individual limitations. The cable length represents the point of maximum extension beyond which each one meets his own fear and force. The impact of the microphone to the ground represents the breaking point, the realization of each one’s personal limit, character and vulnerable nature.

In this work I play the snare-drum with a pair of microphones. The recordings explore the physical properties and affordances of the microphone and presents a more intuitive and analog way to approach audio technology. By giving a body to the microphone (by using it as a drumstick) the work reﬂects on the physical affection and corporal aspect of material culture and how this sensual attraction subverts the conventional modes of consuming technology.